McMillan Provided Inspiration

Published 4:00 am, Thursday, June 13, 1996

1996-06-13 04:00:00 PDT Seattle -- THE WHOLE IDEA was just to be seen. Nothing more. Nate McMillan figured if he merely put on the Seattle Sonics' uniform last night, it might make a difference.

As game time approached, McMillan began thinking of other things. He thought about his brother's motivational speech. He thought about Willis Reed. He wondered how a couple of trips down the floor might affect the cosmic scheme of things. Next thing he knew, he was telling coach George Karl he could play.

It wasn't such a great look in the box score: 14 minutes, three shots, eight points. After those 14 minutes, McMillan went directly to the trainers room for treatment on his back. But if you remember Willis Reed in 1970, or Isiah Thomas in '88, you know the impact McMillan had on his teammates last night.

"Just seeing him got me all pumped up," said Gary Payton, who lit up Key Arena with an inspired 21-point, 11-assist evening that saw him gain a clear -- if temporary -- edge on Michael Jordan. "When he actually came into the game, I got even more motivated."

This was a good night in many respects. It was good for the NBA, which really didn't need a four-game sweep for a second straight year. It was good for the Seattle fans, who were beginning to wonder if that 64-win season and remarkable playoff run was just a mirage. There was glory and justice for Karl, Payton and Shawn Kemp, who twisted, turned and slam-dunked on people's heads until he had demoralized the Bulls' frontcourt with 25 points.

It was nice, also, to see the reputation of the Chicago Bulls knocked down just a little. In a historical context, when the NBA's greatest teams are analyzed, this will be seen as a three-man team: Jordan, Scottie Pippen and Dennis Rodman. In a watered- down league, the Bulls won the most regular-season games (72) in history. They are 14-2 in the playoffs going into tomorrow night's Game 5. They have the greatest player of all time in Jordan, and they have a strong sense of both defense and team basketball.

But in terms of overall talent, forget it. They sneak into the top 20 if they're lucky.

The nation's fans got a long, healthy look at the likes of Ron Harper, Steve Kerr, Bill Wennington and Jud Buechler last night -- to say nothing of Toni Kukoc, who looks frightened out of his mind half the time -- and they had to be repulsed.

In the end, all of those issues took second billing to Nate McMillan. If you've ever had back problems, particularly the sciatic nerve, you get a sense of the agony he's experienced the past two weeks, and the courage it took for him to step onto the floor.

McMillan's condition not only hurts his back, it sends shooting pains down his left hamstring. "In a half-court game, I'd be cool," he says. "I can shoot, play defense. But if I have to sprint, really get up, go somewhere real quick, the thing really hurts."

McMillan first felt crippled by the injury during the Western Conference finals against Utah, and after playing just six minutes in the Finals opener against Chicago, he sat out the next two games.

"So I'm sitting at home today, wondering what to do," he said late last night. "My wife told me to feel it out, see how it is, don't buckle to any pressure. My brother, Randy, just said, 'Play. Find a way.' It wasn't even an issue with him. Just go do it. And I liked that. I needed to hear it."

McMillan had known about Reed, limping onto the floor on a virtually-useless knee to play a few inspirational minutes against the Lakers in Game 7 of the 1970 Finals (the Knicks won that game, 113-99). "I saw films of Willis draggin' his leg on out there," he said. "And I remember Isiah, hobbling around the Forum on a bad wheel and scoring like crazy. Stuff like that can really lift a team up."

McMillan entered last night's game to a thundering ovation with 1:28 left in the first quarter. He hit a 3-point shot that nearly brought down the house, giving Seattle a 39- 23 lead. Then, after hitting another 3-pointer near the end of the third quarter, McMillan got tangled in a Pippen-Detlef Schrempf collision and fell hard to the floor.

"I tweaked it pretty good," he said. "Set me back some. I don't even know about Game 5. I'll just spend all day tomorrow getting treatment, and we'll see what happens."

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McMillan's stint proved to be a lot more than casting off shots from the outside. "He took me off the point," said Payton. "That's one reason we were so good all year, me getting a chance to play some two- guard. With Nate running the point, I got a lot of picks, moved hard off the ball, got down on the baseline where it was harder for Jordan to guard me."

Jordan conceded that McMillan "gave them a very emotional lift, a lot of confidence. I'm pretty sure he was in a lot of pain, but he showed the class and determination he has inside. Hey, he's an ACC guy (McMillan entered North Carolina State a year after Jordan graduated from North Carolina). So I'm not surprised."

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